Care of Hardwood Floors?

[snoopy5386]

We are moving into a home that is mostly hardwoods which is totally new for us. How do we care for them? Sweep, mop, vacuum? Any products you recommend? We have a 1 year old so we would prefer less toxic methods.
Thanks!

[pixiewytch]

I love hardwood floors and have had them for years. I too prefer non toxic and non electric methods of cleaning. We just use a good old fashioned broom daily but I'm sure other people have some of those fancy sweeper vacs or something else to suggest. I would like to get one of those mops with the washable pads, kind of like a swiffer.

As for mopping you can use a cup of vinegar to a bucket of water for wood floors. I like to add a couple of drops of EO to offset the vinegar smell...or you could use a natural all purpose cleaner diluted with water like ecover or bronners sal suds.

[mags]

We have one of those swiffer brooms, but instead of using the disposable swiffers, we use microfiber towels. They work perfectly and can be washed. After dry, "swiffering" we mop with a swiffer too, but whta we do is use a microfiber towel that is wetted with vinegar/water solution. Works great and dries very quickly. I would not use a regular mop, b/c I don't think it's good to get the HW floor too wet.

[ASusan]

Ditto what the pp have said.

I had hardwoods. They were MUCH easier to keep clean after I had them waxed and buffed. Sometimes, I didn't even "swiffer," I just ran the vacuum over the edges of the area rug to catch the dust on the floor.

[mlleoiseau]

I'm not sure what type of hardwood floors we have, (we're renting), but damp mopping or water/vinegar was stripping the finish off. So, I'm back to using the yucky ole swiffer wetjet for wood floors. I'll be so glad when we move.

I love wood floors, though.

[Naturalyst]

Before attempting to use vinegar or any EOs, make sure you know your floors are sealed - not just treated with wax, otherwise you'll strip the finish. It would be safer to use a product specifically made for wood - like Murphy's Oil Soap, which is non-toxic and biodegradable.

[spu]

can the vinegar and water solution dull the shine? How wet do you get the floor with the vinegar/water solution to make sure it cleans up any dirt without dulling the shine?

We're in a new house, that 'had' super shiny floors when we first moved in... but now that we've been living on them for almost a year, you can certainly see the wear on the shine. I've never mopped, since I'm afraid to use too much water... just get down on my hands and knees and spot-clean with a damp paper towel, but I could never do the whole floor this way. I love the idea of using a microfibre cloth on a swiffer - I have one of those huge swiffers, so that would be a snap to lightly mop.



susan

[spero]

Originally Posted by Naturalyst

It would be safer to use a product specifically made for wood - like Murphy's Oil Soap, which is non-toxic and biodegradable.

Not according to the guys that installed our red oak floors. They said that MOS is the WORST stuff you can use on sealed hardwood - and not only that, but it makes the floors dangerously slippery.

I use well-diluted white vinegar, with a swiffer-type mop that has washable microfiber pads. It does dull the shine a bit, but it keeps the floors clean; and I don't really like them shiny, anyway.

[EnviroBecca]

Murphy's is for wood that is NOT sealed. If wood is sealed (looks shiny and feels pretty smooth to your fingertips) try this:

Sweep up loose dust. Get a cloth mop and a spray bottle of cleaner (we like Orange Plus from Earth Friendly Products) mixed 1:8 with water. Spray a small section of floor, then wipe w/mop; dirt sticks to mop. Repeat until mop head has no clean parts left, then replace mop head, or if you don't have extra heads rinse out the mop and start again when it's mostly dry.

[pixiewytch]

See, I've heard the same thing about murphy's. This whole wood floor thing just seems to depend on who you ask. A realtor once advised me on the vinegar and water thing to make floors shine and I've been doing it ever since. I do use a wet mop but I don't get the floors sopping wet. I also follow up by scooting a towel across the floor to dry it. I've never had unfinished wood floors and I don't think they are all that common either. I also can't imagine that a couple of drops of EO diluted with a gallon of water is going to hurt anything.

[spero]

Unfinished wood floors (usually wide-plank pine or oak) are more common in much older (like Revolutionary War era and older) homes; or in old farmhouses where the wood was often just painted.

[ashleyhaugh]

i like murphy's.... worked well in our army housing in germany with cheap crappy tile too

[Naturalyst]

[QUOTE=spero;8335137]They said that MOS is the WORST stuff you can use on sealed hardwood - and not only that, but it makes the floors dangerously slippery.QUOTE]

All depends on the finish of your wood floor. Our floors were *sealed* and we used Murphy's Oil Soap on them for 15 years and they were beautiful.

If you can find out the manufacturer of your wood floor, you should try to give them a call and ask for recommendations that are based on your particular floor.

It's always a good idea to use as little water as possible on your wood floor. So that your floors stay as clean as possible between washings, regularly dry dust and vacuuming with a soft bristled floor attachment.

[spero]

Ours are sealed with polyurethane (as are most, nowadays) and we were advised not to use the Murphy's.

I use white vinegar for all of my floor cleaning, anyway. It's cheaper, and no toxins or chemical residue to worry about. Works perfectly on our hardwood, tile, and linoleum.

[Panserbjorne]

Depends...we've had poly'ed floors and waxed floors. Treatments are different for both. Just don't confuse waxed and unsealed-they aren't the same thing.

[snoopy5386]

I have NO IDEA if are floors are finished, waxed, whatever and no way to find out really either. The house and the floors I believe are from the 1960s if that is any help.

[mags]

If you have pre-finished HW flooring (like the bruce or armstrong stuff you get at the hardware store), the vinegar/water solution will work fine. Our installer actually recommended that we use the vinegar/water solution over ay of the commercial stuff. When I say that we use a microfiber towel, "wetted" with the solution, I am not talking about drenched wet, but wrung out wetted, so it is damp and dries off very quickly. We have a high shine floor, and it looks gorgeous, but of course we have the dark cherry finish, so with the shine, it's got the yacht look (if that is what you are looking for). You have to be careful with the murphy's. My mom used it on various wood furniture and ruined the finish on several items of furniture and it also left a weird film on the floors and the cabinets.